Godric's POV

I just finished my class with the Thinkers when Harry called me to his office. Since it was lunch, I assumed that Helga, Salazar, and Rowena would be there, too. And I was right; they were there. But they weren't the only ones there, Elm was also there. Elm, for your information, is the Sorting Hat. We named him Elm in memory of our best friend at that time that was murdered by a muggle policeman, but of course, no one knew that except us.

"If you're not needed in this school," Salazar said to the Elm in a threatening manner, "I would tear you apart! How dare you put unfriendly people in my house! And secondly, I'm NOT ambitious and I DON'T hate muggles!"

Elm colored red. In comparison to human mannerisms, that meant that he was blushing. "Sorry," he mummbled.

Elm, then, colored green when Salazar picked up the hat and hissed at it in Parseltounge. That meant he was feeling sick. I'm guessing that my dear, favorite brother said something bad to him because Elm understands Parseltounge.

"Stop that now, Salazar," a voice I've heard a lot of times said. I turned around and saw Harry, but there was something a bit off with him. "We need to talk."

That's when I felt it.

That's when I felt the power.

"Dad," I uttered, feeling slightly anxious. Heck, who am I kidding? I was feeling terrified. Glancing at my siblings, I'm not surprised to see that they, too, are feeling the same way. I don't know why, but that's how we felt.

"Sit down," Harry said, but it was more like an order. I haven't heard him use a firm voice on us since we were only three. He was acting like… like a…. He was acting like a father.

And that, I tell you is scarier. It wasn't often that Harry showed his inner feelings to us, but when he does, we really can't help but be scared. And you know why? Because we know how great his powers are. Put together all our powers – Rowena's, Helga's, Salazar's, and mine plus our mother's – and times that to ten couldn't even compare to what power he holds in that body of his. For him to be scared is just… not imaginable.

"Playtime is over," Harry began, "We've got to act, Voldemort would be coming to Hogwarts in exactly two months. That's when our death could be fated."

'This isn't possible.' I thought, 'We are practically immortal, how could we die?'
"You mean…" Helga said, but before she could continue, Harry already answered her.

"Yes, I've done it."
"What was it?" Salazar asked, but the only answer he got was a watery smile and "You'll know in time."
Then Harry did the most unexpected thing we could ever expect from him. He stretched out his hands toward us and said, "Come here, all of you. Give your old man a hug."
We did. And you know what? That was the first time we – Rowena, Helga, Salazar and I – cried, I mean truly cried. We cried for the deaths of thousands of relatives we had since we were born, we cried for the evil that doesn't know what they're doing. We cried for our dream school was still standing even after we have left it, but most of all… we cried because for the first time in our life, we had a father.

~*~

Harry was everything to us, but a father. For the first twenty years of our lives, he provided for us – clothes, food, education… normal things that a parent would give to his child. After that twenty years, he let us do what we want to do. He was no longer our parent, he was just an observer in our life.

So we built Hogwarts. To tell the truth, we didn't build it to educate people, we just wanted our own castle – that was us then, young and foolish. Then we realized that it was too big for only the four of us so we invited people who didn't know how to use magic in. It was only about thirty years later when it became an official school.

It was when we aged past one-hundred when we noticed that it wasn't normal for people our age to still live like teenagers that we faked our own deaths and lived in our father's castle – Merlin's castle.

There, we learned to treat Harry as our best friend. We did everything with him, from playing to fighting crimes. It was only a few centuries later when he told us to treat him as if he was younger than us, almost as if how we would treat our own kids. So there began his new names for us. As I became Uncle Ric, Salazar was named Uncle Zar. Helga was called Geli (Gel – I) while Rowena became Raven.

And through it all, he never became our father. Sure, there were times when we would consult him about several problems – after all, he was wiser than us and knew more than us – but there really wasn't a father-child relationship there.

But now, for the first time in all our lives… we have a father.

My mother would have been proud.

~*~

For the rest of the day – we didn't mind that we had classes to go to, that day was ours alone – we talked about many things. Salazar talked about his new pet snake, Suzu. Rowena and Helga talked about their new prey (meaning guys they want to go after), and I talked about my grandchildren who doesn't know that I was his great x107 grandad and Harry his great x108 grandfather – Draco Malfoy.

All of us laughed at the irony of that situation. While it is true that the Malfoys has been sorted into Slytherin for years, Elm assured me that it was only because of their ambitious desires to keep the family proud. Besides, Salazar and I are equal. The Weasleys came from his line. Elm said that they were just too ambitious that they were brave enough to go against anything that they were sorted into Gryffindor.

"Elm!" Salazar shouted, "How many times do I have to tell you! I am NOT ambitous!"
A piece of paper flew out of the hat's mouth and smacked right into Salazar's face. After looking at it, Salazar hissed in Parseltounge, again making Elm color green.

Helga looked at the paper and laughed. She stole it from Salazar's firm grip and showed it to Rowena and I. And we laughed, too, because the paper had a picture on it – a picture of the real Elm who was sticking his tongue out, his hands in either side of his head.

We talked through the night, until we were lost for words. And through it all, Harry listened and laughed with us, just like a father would do. We were all about to go to our own rooms when he offered to tuck as in bed.

We knew it was really awkward, but we agreed all the same. Besides, that was our life-long dream ever since we were five. It was always our mother who tucked us in, never our father, so when he asked us… well let's just say it was a dream-come-true.

We dropped Salazar first to his room. Harry went with him for a few minutes before coming back out to Rowena's, Helga's and my room.

I was the last one that he tucked in.

"You know," Harry said, "I'm afraid."
That caught me off-guard. "Afraid of what?"
"Dying?" Harry said. I noticed the silent tears that was rolling off his eyes and reached for it. But before I could touch his face, he caught it and gripped it really tight that I thought it was going to die.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because even though I know I'm tired of living," he answered, "I don't know what's going to happen when I die. I don't want to leave you and your siblings. I love you, Godric, my son, I always have."
"I love you, too, Dad." I said, "Thanks for being a great father."
"Don't lie to me, Ric," he said, his eyes showing deep sadness, "I've never been a father to you. Provider, yes, but not father."
"I'm not lying, though," I protested, "I know, Rowena knows, Helga knows, even Salazar knows that you are the greatest father there is. Do you know what our greatest dream was, Dad?"
"What?"

"Ever since we were three," I confessed, "Our only dream was for you to tuck us in bed… just like this."
And he cried more. And he hugged me and kissed me on the cheeks. "I'm sorry."
"You don't need to be sorry. We love you all the same. We always have and always will."

He stood up and smiled. "Go to bed, now, young man."
I smiled and pulled the blanket over my body. He fixed it a little and kissed me again, but this time in the forehead.
"Dream a sweet dream for me, Godric Austin Gryffindor," Dad said before turning off the lights and leaving the room.

AN:// So? A bit sad, but I really had to put that in. It's part of the "defeat Voldemort plan" I've got…. So… review!